THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Bestselling author Linda Castillo returns with Outsider, an electrifying thriller about a woman on the run hiding among the Amish. While enjoying a sleigh ride with his children, Amish widower Adam Lengacher discovers a car stuck in a snowdrift and an unconscious woman inside. He calls upon Chief of Police Kate Burkholder for help, and she is surprised to … Burkholder for help, and she is surprised to recognize the driver: fellow cop and her former friend, Gina Colorosa.
Years before, Kate and Gina were best friends at the police academy and patrol officers in Columbus, but time and distance have taken them down two very different paths. Now, Gina reveals a shocking story of betrayal and revenge that has forced her to run for her life. She’s desperate for protection, and the only person she can trust is Kate–but can Kate trust her? Or will Gina’s dark past put them all in danger?
As a blizzard bears down on Painters Mill, Kate helps Gina go into hiding on Adam’s farm. While the tough-skinned Gina struggles to adjust to the Amish lifestyle, Kate and state agent John Tomasetti delve into the incident that caused Gina to flee. But as Kate gets closer to the truth, a killer lies in wait. When violence strikes, she must confront a devastating truth that changes everything she thought she knew not only about friendship, but the institution to which she’s devoted her life.
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3.5 Stars.
Have come to really enjoy this series. They definitely can be read as a stand alone. However, this wasn’t a favorite. Maybe because it seemed more English, than Amish related. Maybe because it seemed I knew upfront what would happen. However, since I haven’t read the first few books, I enjoyed catching a glimpse of Kate’s past. This book hinted at a more permanent future with Tomasetti. I look forward to the next book in this series.
Thanks to Ms. Castillo, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone!
One of my favorite authors.
Author really keeps you guessing as to what’s going to happen next.
I thought the decision to have Kate hide out with the suspect at an Amish home with young children completely wrong. I know she was snowed-in at the beginning, but she had time to leave. Why would she endanger three young kids?
A disgraced police officer and estranged friend of Painters Mill Police Chief Kate Burkholder shows up the formerly Amish chief’s territory. The two ex-friends, police academy classmates, are forced to shelter with an Amish widower and his children as they ride out a snow storm and fight for their lives.
This latest installment of the Chief Burkholder series centers on Kate, her friend Gina, and the Amish family. Not much is heard from Kate’s police officers as they are each given a singular mention in this story. John Thomasini, Kate’s significant other, makes a few appearances as he and Kate work together on the case.
I listened to the audio version of the book and as usual, enjoyed Kathleen McInerny’s performance. I associate her voice with this series.
I
Liked the book and have read many Linda Costello books
This may not be my favorite Linda Castillo book but it was very good. I always read her books in a couple days because I can’t put them down. This book did not have a big surprise at the end like some, but all in all highly recommended.
I like all of Linda Castillo’s books.
Outsider by Linda Castillo is the latest in the Kate Burkholder series. I have read all of this series and have never been disappointed.
In this installment we get a glimpse of Kate’s history in Columbus, Ohio as a patrol police officer. Her former partner has gotten in over her head with some corrupt Columbus cops and heads to Painters Mills for Kate’s help. Unfortunately, Gina gets shot before leaving the city and ends up snowed in, wounded, with a widowed Amish man and his children. This is how Kate finds her and when Gina tells her what is going on in Columbus, she is torn, is Gina telling the truth or not. Then Gina’s CI is found shot and all leads point to Gina she enlists her boyfriend. John Tomasetti, an officer with the OBCI, she realizes Gina has gotten in way over her head.
I could not put this story down It, as is the case with every book by Castillo I have ever read.
I was given an ARC by the publisher and NetGalley for an honest review.
The past comes calling in, Outsider, the latest novel by Linda Castillo.
Good cop? Bad cop? Can you believe an old friend and colleague when you left your first department because of the way she was using her position to gain money and perceived power? She’s now in your town, injured, in the midst of a blizzard. You can’t arrest her and take her in. Her story of high level police corruption is terrifying. You believe her, maybe, but then again she might be playing you. Now you’re both hunkered down in the home of a widowed Amish man and his children. Will her presence make these innocents, targets? So many questions!
Outsider is a deliciously suspenseful read. Chief Burkholder is once again in the middle, with her significant other, Tomasetti, lending support and digging deeper using his state connections. Something is going on and it’s bigger than Gina’s issues.
I love the author’s writing style. She knows police procedure, and makes the suspense palpable. Using a blizzard to keep the main characters in one place and therefore vulnerable, is chilling. There are so many what ifs in the book, leading you down one path, then turning it around perfectly. I can’t wait for the next Kate Burkholder book!
Outsider is book twelve in Linda Castillo’s Kate Burkholder series. Though this novel is part of a well-established series it reads well as a standalone.
Kate Burkholder is the Police Chief of Painters Mill, Ohio, where a third of the community is Amish. Kate was raised Plain, Amish, but left the community at age eighteen, because she didn’t agree with all of the rules and traditions. She was offered the position of Police Chief partly because of her ties to the Amish.
Kate is called to the home of childhood friend, Adam Lengacher. He and his children rescued a woman who was unconscious and freezing in a winter storm. Kate arrives and is shocked to find her former best friend and fellow police officer, Gina Colorosa. Gina has always been one to fly by the seat of her pants, but this time she may have gone too far and is now wanted by police, herself. Kate wants to believe Gina’s claims of innocence, but she’s reluctant to accept that there is such corruption in a police department she worked for.
Outsider is a successful addition to the Kate Burkholder series. The plot is compelling with just the right amount of action. Characterization is a strong element of this novel. The characters are vibrant and believable. This is a truly enjoyable book. I give it 5 out of 5 stars and recommend it to all readers who enjoy a good mystery.
My thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. However, the opinions expressed in this review are 100% mine and mine alone.
This was a great read for the holiday weekend. The story begins with the execution of a no-knock warrant served on a woman who was expecting it. My heart began pounding as I read of her frenzied escape. After that exciting prologue, the story lags for a bit. It then took me a little while to get back into the story, but once I did, I was hooked as the tension and suspense intensified. I was drawn into the story of police corruption, the innocence of believers, and redemption. I did not want to put it down. A brilliantly written thriller!
I enjoy the glimpses into the life of the Amish this series provides. The female protagonist Sheriff Kate Burkholder grew up within the Amish community, left it, and has returned as the small-town chief of police for the area she grew up in. Gina Colorosa, the woman fleeing from the police, is a fellow police officer that Burkholder went through the police academy with and was once best friends with. But now Gina has serious secrets that could get her and Kate killed.
Castillo always presents characters that the reader comes to genuinely care about. In this, the 12th, book in the series, we are introduced to Amish farmer Adam, a widower, with three small children. This family reflected the teachings of the Amish with their innocence and compassion for their fellow humankind. My heart ached for them when their act of kindness inadvertently puts them in danger. There is a smattering of romance as Kate’s relationship with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation Officer John Tomasetti deepens.
While this is part of a series, it can easily be read as a standalone.
“Live your life with God’s goodness and you’ll never fear the past.”
–Kate Burkholder’s Mamm
Who is the strange woman asking for Chief Kate Burkholder after being found by Amish farmer, Adam Lengacher, outside her crashed truck in the middle of a fierce snow storm? Why is she in Painter’s Mill, Pennsylvania? This fast paced twelfth novel in the Kate Burkholder series starts out on a snowy night that quickly turns into a full blown blizzard grounding Kate and the mysterious woman at Adam Lengacher’s remote farm.
As the novel unfolds Gina Colorosa, the mystery woman and an old best friend from Kate’s early police academy days, begins to explain herself. She weaves a complex tale of what happens when the good guys turn really bad. Can Kate believe the story? Who can she depend on to help her sort through the details? Who can be trusted? The intricate web of complexities surrounding them tightens as the intense search for Gina escalates.
This intriguing suspense filled novel by Linda Castillo is well worth your time. I enjoyed the mystery, suspense, and drama of the story. Relevant to today’s headlines, this story will get you attention and keep it.
This ARC copy was received from Minotaur Books and Netgalley.com. The above thoughts and opinions are wholly my own.
#Outsider #NetGalley
4 stars for book 12 in the Kate Burkholder series. This is another pulse pounding thriller that starts off with a bang. The prologue has cops doing a no knock raid on a woman who is prepared for an escape. She is shot, but manages to escape and head for her friend from the police academy, Kate Burkholder. This is not a mystery, since the bad guys are identified early on.
Gina Colorosa is the fleeing woman. There are corrupt cops who want to kill her. She is a cop too, and they are afraid that she knows too much. Gina crashes her pickup in a blinding snowstorm. She is rescued by an Amish widower, Adam Lengacher. The book has some interesting insight into the life of an Amish farmer in rural Northeast Ohio.
How this thriller is resolved makes for an entertaining read. I read it in 2 days. This series works better if read in order, as there are continuing plot lines. However, this book would be ok as a stand alone. I have read all the previous books in the series.
Two quotes:
Winter in Northeast Ohio: “Dawn arrives cold and gray, with snow flurries and a north wind that hammers the house like a fist. It’s not as bitterly cold today, and I’m desperately hoping the six inches of snow the weatherman predicted is an overestimation.”
Amish proverb: “Live your life with God’s goodness and you’ll never fear the past.”
Thank You Minotaur Books/St Martin’s Press, Linda Castillo and NetGalley for sending me this eARC.
Packs A Powerful Punch!!
Chief of Police in Painters Mill, Kate Burkholder is my favorite ex Amish police officer.It’s no secret I love this series.This installment was a little different but no less intense.The characters are so vivid they jump off the page.
This was another action packed from start to finish edition. This series just gets better with every book.
A woman from Kate’s past shows up wounded and on the run. She needs Kate’s help. Adam Lengacher finds Gina Colorosa while he is on a sleigh ride with his children. He thinks shes dead.
A huge snow storm, power,police corruption and greed are the backdrop of this 12th book. Tomasetti plays a larger role than he has in a while which makes it even better.
Sammy stole the show.
I received a Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley, the publisher and the author in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you, NetGalley, for my e-ARC.
In this twelfth installment of Castillo’s addictive Kate Burkholder Amish mystery series, Kate has an unexpected reunion with a friend and colleague from her days on the force.
Adam Lengacher is out for a sleigh ride with his three young children when he comes across an unexpected sight. As is the Amish way, he goes to investigate and offer help. A truck has crashed into a tree hard enough for the front end to buckle and the airbag to deploy. There was nobody in the truck, but there was blood…a lot of it. And…bullet holes in the rear windshield. Already apprehensive, he goes in search of the driver. And he finds…her.
Kate and her deputies already are swamped with distress calls when Lois, her dispatcher radioes in with another one. From Lengacher farm, specifically asking for Kate. Who and what she finds there is no less than the storm brewing outside.
Short chapters with alternating perspectives. Vivid descriptions. Authentic depiction of the Amish way of life, including the usage of the Dutch language(translations immediately following are helpful and convenient) make for a entertaining and enlightening read.
An enjoyable read, overall(the third one I’ve read). Ideally, it would have been best to start with book number one instead of jumping in at number ten. That being said, this still works well as a standalone. Castillo does such a good job of seamlessly referencing past events and re-introducing characters . I eagerly look forward to her next.
This is such a great series! This book gives us some in sight to Kate’s life just before she became a cop. It starts out with a bang and stays fast paced til the thrilling conclusion. I enjoyed the story and look forward to Kate’s next adventure. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the early copy